300wsm

[col48]

Feeding problems are one of the reasons the WSM and WSSM rounds aren't selling here in the US anymore. They were Winchesters last-ditch effort to gin up gun sales before they folded. Winchester had a long history of coming up with a highly publicized new cartridge to get folks buying their rifles. It fell short this last time and the company went under. The WSM's couldn't pull them away from the brink as they hoped it would.~Andrew

 

 

hi

i thought it was that the man that invented the case took them to court and won the case, and winchester had to pay him thousands??? as they did not have permission to use his chambering

now i know this would not be the only reason but i thought it was the straw that broke the camels back.

or have i got this completely wrong?

 

ATB

Colin

[baldie]

I believe there is some truth in that Col. a lot of american gunsmiths wont use the reamers, believing one guy holds the copywright to the chambering. This is why the 6.5 grendell is never gonna do anything in this country.Alexander arms license the reamers. I know of two ar15,s in it, thats all....and its a great cartridge.I do believe, steve has one coming however, so we might see some decent bolt actions in it, because its gonna work better in a bolt gun, than an ar, here.

[casts_by_fly]

I see two very basic problems with why the WSSM and WSM cartridges didn't catch on in the US. First, the performance overlap. The WSSM's (223 and 243) give a slight advantage over factory loads in the comparable high performance cartridges of those calibers (220 swift and 243/6mm). The advantage doesn't warrant going out and buying another rifle though. And, if you hand load you can get a 22-250AI or 243 AI even closer to the WSSM levels (or go with a wildcat at that point). The WSM's were similar. So while their performance is great, it isn't a step change over what most guys are already shooting. Then you have the price of the ammo. Even the guys who would consider buying a new super boomer magnum for that extra 100-300 fps gain were put off by the price of the ammo. At one point WSSM/WSM's were selling for $40 a box of 20. Premium ammo in standard cartridges was still under $30 at that point. Standard box ammo was even less. Then consider the rifles that were chambered in them- Winchesters, some brownings, and a few others off the shelf. They were pricey rifles to start with, the ammo was very expensive compared to the alternatives, and the performance gain wasn't as great as the hype.

 

Someone at winchester dropped the ball in the consumer research department. The 'advantages' they gave were a shorter, stiffer, and lighter action, more velocity, and a more compact gun. Who here has a problem with the weight/length of a short action gun like a 700SA? What does that extra inch less give you? We all wouldn't mind more velocity, but at what cost?

 

I can see the applications for target with a long barrel. The short fat case design is proven to be accurate (PPC, BR, even 308) and with a long barrel you can wring out the extra fps from the bigger case without going to a really long case (then you're comparing a WSM action to a magnum length action). But for practical hunting purposes, there are cheaper alternatives that will get the same job done.

 

Thanks,

Rick

[Andrew]

This is the first I've heard of it.

 

Someone had to put the cartridge through SAAMI and that isn't cheap. If it was done by someone else it wouldn't be the "Winchester Short Magnum". It would be under a different name. If Winchester did pay the bucks to the designer, it was before SAAMI, and market, so the result is the same. ~Andrew